Just a reminder to you non-TARconners that you can join us online to chat during the show. We're on AIM and the chat room name is twoptarchat. If you are having trouble getting in, feel free to send me an IM. My AIM name is RachelRSL.

PLEASE PLEASE WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE EPISODE HAS FINISHED BEFORE POSTING COMMENTS IN THIS THREAD. I'm just opening the thread now to let people know about the chat. Thanks!

Kudos to everyone who had to go on those scary ass rides! I don't think even a million dollars could get me on those. And you couldn't even close your eyes (which is what I would have done) because you had to look for the damn clue!

I thought the Hippies were gonna win as soon as they showed them putting the money on Ray and Yolanda's car, and the Frats bypassing said car. SO SO glad that the Frats were foiled by the flags. That was a terrific roadblock--much better than the giant map last time (Sorry, Linzes!) And really cool that they stuck in some fake flags, too.
Very satisfactory.

Only watched the last 45 minutes but an awesome finish. Thought BJ & Tyler were going to lose it by missing the snow shoes. It looked like this was a physical task.

Great to have the finish bacl at the start line. Great roadblock especially with the extra flags. BJ & Tyler obviously remembered where they went better than Frat boys. I thought BJ & Tyler miss read the clue as they approached the finish. I thought it said they had to carry the last flag to the finish. I probably didn't hear it correctly.

Overall a great season with close finishes although the race was dominated by the 2 teams.

There were some lovely edits in there, and I loved the leg in Japan. I totally want to go to that road crossing in Tokyo now -- but with an English-speaking guide, I think. I wonder what the story is behind the dog statue.

I think BJ & Tyler were super-lucky that the plane detour was shut down because of weather. 150 miles by bush plane sounds like it would take much longer than drilling the holes in the ice!

Once again the mugging really seemed to make no difference. I couldn't believe RaYo lost the ticket on the tollway. I'm crazy paranoid about doing that!

First of all, AWESOME final roadblock. The greatness of last season's times a million.

Second of all, for TAR's first trip to Japan, it was done BEAUTIFULLY. I would daresay flawlessly, although the thrill rides could be a little generic, but still BRILLIANT. Is it a coincidence that the sign was on the very last roller coaster they had to try? ;)

All the locations, as a matter fact, were done brilliantly. This episode especially, and the roadblock reminded me of the awesome places visited this season.

I liked it. It was reasonably close, thanks to more bunching, none of the teams bugged too much, and we might have just seen the best match between team and task/country in BJ & Tyler in Japan. Great leg design, and it was cool to see Japan finally in the race. I do wonder why they kept using the generic, non-copyrighted equivalent of The Vapor's Turning Japanese as the background music. And they probably rented out that floor of the capsule hotel - I was under the understanding that such hotels were gender segregated.

The Frat Boys and the Hippies raced reasonably well - either could have won at the end. RaYo's navigation difficulties really kept them out of the running, as neither the frat boys nor hippies made any significant mistakes that allowed them in it.

In all, decent season, decent legs for the most part, but oddly uncompelling teams to me. Not sure why.